Only a few weeks ago Qualcomm introduced their biannual update to their premium processor, the Snapdragon 855+ and now we are already seeing next year’s processor show up online. The Snapdragon 865 has appeared on Geekbench showing a performance that far exceeds that of any other processor.
The Qualcomm 865 is expected to arrive in early 2020 inside the premium flagships of manufacturers and is the standard full upgrade we see each year from Qualcomm but this year is different. This year it seems that rather be on a par with its competitors it could well be a long way ahead.
On the Geekbench benchmark site the Snapdragon 865 scored 12915 for it’s multi-core score. This score is more than 2000 ahead of the Snapdragon 855, 3000 more than the Kirin 890, and about 1700 more than the previous king of the heap, the Apple A12 Bionic. Of course these processors it smashed will also be updated later this year with the Kirin 990 coming in the Mate 30 in just over a month and the A13 Bionic coming in the next iPhone.
One thing is for sure this score is based on beta software (Android Q) running just 6GB of RAM so you can be sure that manufacturers will be able to give it even more juice, especially once Google fine tunes Android Q a bit more. There is of course the possibility that some may slow it down with their onerous implementations of their Android skins on top of Google’s Android.
One way or another it is good to see Qualcomm continuing to make great improvements from one generation to another given that their processors appear in many of the Android phones we see here in Australia.
“2020’s Snapdragon 865 runs rings around every other processor out there”
Well, yes and no. The chip is clearly an impressive performer with a particularly notable multi-core benchmark score. But, as your title makes clear it won’t make into products until 2020. By then there will be chips that equip themselves very well against the SD865, namely the Apple A13 that will probably exceed its performance and the HiSilicon Kirin 990 that will offer similar performance. Both of those chips will be incorporated into products that will release this year.